JD Blatchford-Rodriguez is a Desert Storm veteran, as well as a father of two, and will be graduating with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts. It has taken Blatchford-Rodriguez 20 years to graduate due to his obligations to his family and his job, but said he feels relieved that the pursuit is over.
“My dad, when I was three years old, brought me to the U.S.,” Blatchford-Rodriguez said. “I was actually born in Mexico City ... my dad brought me to the U.S., he was self-taught how to read, write and speak English within a year.”
Blatchford-Rodriguez is the eldest son of seven children, with two older sisters, two younger sisters and two younger brothers. Out of his six siblings, he is the first to earn a college degree.
“Because of what (my father) decided to do, it made a big difference for me,” he said, “If we look at (the) education scaffolding and being able to learn from a different point, he gave me a different perspective, a different opportunity.”
Blatchford-Rodriguez’s mother only required that he and his siblings obtain high school degrees.
“My mother, when she was alive, used to say, ‘All I want you to do is to give me a high school diploma,’” he said. “She said. ‘As long as all seven of you give me a high school diploma, I’ll know that you have an education to do something in life.’”
Blatchford-Rodriguez’s path has not been without challenges. He said the biggest challenge in his life was supporting a family through college, but he faced other obstacles along the way.
“The racial hegemony of race, class and gender in many different aspects was a big thing to deal with,” he said. “Based on whatever school I was going to, whatever professor I was having, what their perspective was, if they felt I deserved the grade or not.”
Blatchford-Rodriguez said he had encounters with biased professors, but he said he doesn’t harbor any hard feelings.
“The coursework was there, but they decided to give me the grade based on their own perceptions,” Blatchford-Rodriguez said. “It happens; they decide based on whatever they desire ... we have policies and procedures for education, but I still had to deal with that.”
It has taken Blatchford-Rodriguez 20 years to earn his degree. During that time he has helped his wife earn her degree and is putting his two daughters through pre-med. Blatchford-Rodriguez said scheduling was very important through his journey.
“Where I was working at, I would work a graveyard shift or a swing shift so I could go to school during the day,” Blatchford-Rodriguez said. “My manager was flexible with my schedule ... I would leave for two hours in the middle of the day to go to class ... (and) I kept doing that every semester.”
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Blatchford-Rodriguez said he was only able to take one or two classes a semester because he was working full-time and supporting a family, and sometimes he had to take a semester off from school for his family.
“Going back and forth to go to school, if I had to skip a semester then I would have to do that based on work or whatever I needed to do,” Blatchford-Rodriguez said. “That’s why it took me forever.”
He said now that he’s graduated, he’s looking for a new place to live.
“My wife wants to go back to where she was raised most of her adult life, which was Okinawa, Japan,” Blatchford-Rodriguez said. “To get a job there is the final goal, but if we can get a job in Virginia or Hawaii, we want to be somewhere close to water. Living in a desert for 14 years really dries you out.”
Blatchford-Rodriguez said that along with helping his family get through college, he felt he has inspired others in his family to do the same.
“I got nieces and nephews that are right behind me,” he said. “So I’ve inspired them to go get their education, too.”
Blatchford-Rodriguez said he wants to encourage non-traditional students to pursue college and to push through until the end.
“I was an underdog because it took me so long to get a degree,” he said, “but desiring to do something and never stopping from what you desire is important, so pursue your goals and don’t be discouraged.”
Fin Martinez is a staff reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @FinMartinez.
